Tag Archives: Government-lies

Writing on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Patrick Cockburn bluntly stated: “It has been a war of lies from the start. All govenments lie in wartime, but American and British propaganda in Iraq over the past five years has been more untruthful than in any conflict since the First World War.” He points out from day one of the war, both governments have been telling their nations one lie after another in order to justify a war whose goals were fraudulent. There never were any WMD so reasons advanced for invading Iraq were a pack of lies from the beginning.

The original heavy bombing of Saddam Hussein residences were aimed at killing the Iraqi ruler. On April 7 the US aAir Force dropped massive bombs on a house in which Saddam allegedly was hiding. Vice President Cheney insisted that day:”I think we did get Saddam Husseing. He was seen being dug out of the ruble and wasn’t able to breathe.” It was a lie since Saddam was never in the house but 18 Iraqi civilians died.

Cockburn charges during the period 2006-2007 a civil war raged between Sunni and Shiite in which about 3,000 people died each month, but neither the US or the UK admitted such a war was going on. He cites the February 1st suicide bombing that killed about 99 people which was blamed on a woman who supposedly had Down’s syndrome. British media echoed the official Iraqi government account even thoough there was no way anyone knew if she had such an ailment or not. All they had was a head. The Iraqi police began arresting mental patients on the theory they represened potential suicide bombers.

His comments describe examples of lies being told. Each example in itself may be interpreted by supporters of the Iraq war as quibbling over minor incidents, but they reflect the ongoing lies and deceit of American, British, and Iraqi government sources who are unable to confront the reality of a war begun in the shameful use of lies and continued with ongoing lies.